Sometime around 2005, eight co-workers at a Pennsylvania advertising agency received an unusual email. Instead of the latest advertising news, it contained five links to interesting things: a menu of creative delights from outside the industry. The sender was Maria Popova, an idealistic start-up employee trying to broaden her colleagues’ imaginative horizons. Today she is the sole creative force behind Brain Pickings: a website and newsletter that provides an ongoing “inventory for the good life” to its several million subscribers.

As its creator puts it, the average Brain Pickings weekly digest can contain links to “anything from an obscure Japanese short film to type design from the 1930s to the latest neuroscience breakthrough”. These embedded gems are the happy by-product of her daily routine, which consists of close reading and deep thinking. She’s a born researcher, quarrying quotes and excerpts, joining the dots of insight with inspired lines of speculation, chasing threads and themes across disciplines and reacting in the margins with notes that often exceed the length of their source. She calls this open-ended process “meaning-making” and it’s what we have to thank for her new book, Figuring.

Figuring is a biography of Popova’s intellectual ancestors: a map of the intersecting trajectories of brilliant minds—from Johannes Kepler to Rachel Carson—captured through the wide-angle lens of the last half-millennium and coloured by the deeply human hues of love and rejection, vindication and vilification; the polar forces that guide the search for meaning. With empathic exegeses of their poetry, prose and private letters, Popova pulls the reader down to within an intimate distance of her historical cast, cutting us windows on the poky room that hid Emily Dickinson from the world for 30 years, the home observatory Maria Mitchell used to find her famous comet, the Maine beach house where Carson composed the books that would start the modern environmental movement.

The book’s timely focus brings sexuality and gender to the surface to show how certain concepts have always eluded our graceless attempts to classify them. Immersive chapters on the Transcendentalists—a group of 19th-century New England scholars—uncover experiments in polyamory that predate the hippy movement by 100 years. The author traces the birth of modern activism to the same era, when progressivism’s opening skirmishes made abolitionists of astronomers and suffragettes of sculptors. It’s a welcome emphasis—a lot of ink has been spilled over the hagiography of “Great Men”, while excuses for their misogyny and slave-keeping are made on the grounds that they were, to quote the book, “breathing the atmosphere of [their] era”. Figuring offers an alternative history, one of great people—“mostly women, mostly queer”—who shared a precocious sense of justice amid the squally seas of social censure.

The inspiring accounts are, of course, shaded by a broader historical reality. The book is a record of extraordinary personal achievements shaped by the “tides of convention that delimit each era’s horizon of possibility”. The astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell’s supervisor is awarded the Nobel Prize for her discovery of pulsars. A letter to the editor reacting to Carson’s sensational book The Sea Around Us reads, “I assume from the author’s knowledge that he must be a man.” A group of women astronomers at Harvard College are nicknamed “Pickering’s Harem” after the observatory’s director, a name that still rears its head in modern references to the group: "Precisely the same conflicts have always stood as now, with slight shifting of scene and costume."

It’s a long book, but Figuring thunders along with a novelistic intensity, propelled by the organic drama of its extraordinary lives. Jaunts through parallel topics—the invention of photography, the birth of Jungian synchronicity—read like condensed histories, but are in fact select metaphors that orbit the book’s central theme: the search for meaning through discovery and creation. Literary extracts adorn almost every page, each handpicked for what it adds to the book proper: the apt poetic metaphor, the love-letter revelation, the essayist’s prescient quip. It speaks to the quality of Popova’s own writing that it survives comparison with the literary giants of the last four centuries. Her wonderfully deft and sincere prose melts down the raw materials of heavy research into a coruscating flow of ideas, images and insights that add skin and sinew to the bones of biographical fact to create a forward-looking history that's both timely and timeless.

Sant’Angelo Luxury Resort, Matera, Italy

The vertiginous town of Matera has been named the 2019 European capital of culture, so make sure you get there before everyone else. A tumbling hillside flecked with sassi—caves carved out of limestone—until recently, it was blighted by poverty. Now, swathes of its grottoes are ready to be rented on Airbnb, and the congregation of creatives to the city, alongside the early rumblings of a tourism boom, have spawned numerous cafes, bars and galleries. Check into Sant’Angelo Luxury Resort, which spreads across a collection of buildings just off Piazza San Pietro Caveoso. For a particularly indulgent few days, book the Palais d’Orient room, which is more of a private, two-tiered tower than just a place to rest your head. The Moroccan-influenced reception area (think gaudy tiling, velvet furnishings and verdant greenery) leads into a spa-like bathroom. Clamber up a skinny stone staircase to the bedroom. A large, crisply-sheeted bed dominates the room, which is flanked on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows. Take a bottle of wine out onto the balcony (conveniently fitted with cushions) at dusk to drink-in panoramic views and the sight of the sun setting, candy-pink, behind the butter-yellow buildings that jut out from craggy rocks. Hotel Sant'Angelo

Fontelunga, Tuscany, Italy

Friendly and relaxed, owners Philip Robinson and Paolo Kastelec make you feel like you’re staying in a home, not a hotel. Gathering guests together for regular dinner parties, and full of local recommendations, they make sure to allow for downtime to chill by the pool, wander the gardens, and drive to the local spots of Arezzo, Cortona and Siena. Head out for a three-day break in the spring, when the sun and the flowers are beginning to come out. Find details of their springtime package here.

Les Sources de Caudalie, Bordeaux, France

At Les Sources de Caudalie, not only can you drink wine in abundance, you can also bathe in it at the Vinothérapie spa. Pillowed by rolling vineyards, the hotel was constructed from materials taken from decaying local farms, and boasts bikes to roam the estate, cooking classes and a restaurant by two-Michelin-starred chef Nicolas Masse. Its crowing jewel, though, is the spa, which is the birthplace of Caudalie’s grape-based beauty products. Les Sources de Caudalie.

Redchurch Townhouse, London, U.K.

The latest London offering from the Soho House group, Redchurch Townhouse is minutes away from Shoreditch House club and its signature Cowshed spa. Key features include 37 bedrooms decked out in the brand’s signature style, and equipped with more Cowshed shower gels and shampoos than a person can feasibly use. Artworks by East Londoners adorn the wall, and, on the ground floor, a Cecconi’s serves classic Italian fare—the lobster pasta comes recommended. Redchurch Townhouse.

Photo: Simon Brown

Kyrimai Hotel, Gerolimenas, Greece

Two miles from Kalamata airport, the interior of this sand-hued hotel (a renovated 19th-century ship chandler’s centre) has chunky walls, thick wooden beams and a diminutive museum that guides you through the history of the area. The 23 rooms are variously equipped (think balconies, traces and bathtubs), but are all furnished with antiques. The restaurant focuses on fresh, Mediterranean fare, so if it’s sunny, eat outside by the water, and when it’s cold, snuggle into the fire-lit dining room. Kyrimai Hotel.

1872 River House, Porto, Portugal

Accessed via a stained-glass walkway, this pink mansion sits by the water in Porto’s old town. Comprised of just eight bedrooms, each offsets the building’s old-school features (fireplaces and chandeliers) with modern touches from graphic black and white tiling in the bathroom to pop-up TVs. Breakfast is served all day, and, as the evening creeps in, wine is drunk up on the terrace. An intimate, non-showy base from which to explore Portugal’s enchanting second city. 1872 River House.

Photo: Joao Morgado

Little Green Bay, Hvar, Croatia

Overlooking the quiet Lonza Bay, this hotel was set up by French brother-sister duo Mathieu and Julie, and their experience in hospitality and design shines through. Decked out in natural woods, linens and stone, the renovated farmhouse has just 15 rooms furnished with wickers baskets, large beds and windows offering sweeping views. The restaurant serves up French fare and, between meals, spend your days lounging by the turquoise water. Little Green Bay.

Sant’Angelo Luxury Resort, Matera, Italy

The vertiginous town of Matera has been named the 2019 European capital of culture, so make sure you get there before everyone else. A tumbling hillside flecked with sassi—caves carved out of limestone—until recently, it was blighted by poverty. Now, swathes of its grottoes are ready to be rented on Airbnb, and the congregation of creatives to the city, alongside the early rumblings of a tourism boom, have spawned numerous cafes, bars and galleries. Check into Sant’Angelo Luxury Resort, which spreads across a collection of buildings just off Piazza San Pietro Caveoso. For a particularly indulgent few days, book the Palais d’Orient room, which is more of a private, two-tiered tower than just a place to rest your head. The Moroccan-influenced reception area (think gaudy tiling, velvet furnishings and verdant greenery) leads into a spa-like bathroom. Clamber up a skinny stone staircase to the bedroom. A large, crisply-sheeted bed dominates the room, which is flanked on three sides by floor-to-ceiling windows. Take a bottle of wine out onto the balcony (conveniently fitted with cushions) at dusk to drink-in panoramic views and the sight of the sun setting, candy-pink, behind the butter-yellow buildings that jut out from craggy rocks. Hotel Sant'Angelo

Fontelunga, Tuscany, Italy

Friendly and relaxed, owners Philip Robinson and Paolo Kastelec make you feel like you’re staying in a home, not a hotel. Gathering guests together for regular dinner parties, and full of local recommendations, they make sure to allow for downtime to chill by the pool, wander the gardens, and drive to the local spots of Arezzo, Cortona and Siena. Head out for a three-day break in the spring, when the sun and the flowers are beginning to come out. Find details of their springtime package here.

Les Sources de Caudalie, Bordeaux, France

At Les Sources de Caudalie, not only can you drink wine in abundance, you can also bathe in it at the Vinothérapie spa. Pillowed by rolling vineyards, the hotel was constructed from materials taken from decaying local farms, and boasts bikes to roam the estate, cooking classes and a restaurant by two-Michelin-starred chef Nicolas Masse. Its crowing jewel, though, is the spa, which is the birthplace of Caudalie’s grape-based beauty products. Les Sources de Caudalie.

Redchurch Townhouse, London, U.K.

The latest London offering from the Soho House group, Redchurch Townhouse is minutes away from Shoreditch House club and its signature Cowshed spa. Key features include 37 bedrooms decked out in the brand’s signature style, and equipped with more Cowshed shower gels and shampoos than a person can feasibly use. Artworks by East Londoners adorn the wall, and, on the ground floor, a Cecconi’s serves classic Italian fare—the lobster pasta comes recommended. Redchurch Townhouse.

Simon Brown

Convent de la Missio, Palma, Mallorca

If you like a relaxing haven in the midst of the bustling city, book a room at Convent de la Missió. It’s quiet; carpeted hallways and thick wooden doors open out onto plush rooms in neutral palettes that envelop you in calm the minute you step in. Giant beds, sumptuous linens, cream carpets, double sinks, jacuzzi-style baths—there’s every amenity to transport you to your own personal sanctuary. You’d never know that you’re mere steps from the heart of Palma. This renovated monastery is as close to a religious experience as hotel lovers can find. Convent de la Missió

Stamba Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia

If Tbilisi is, as the crude phrase goes, “on the up”, then the Samba Hotel is at the core if its renaissance. Owned by Georgian hospitality group Adjara, the design hotel is in the trendy Vera area. Sprawling over a former Soviet-era publishing house, its industrial framework is offset by contemporary touches: gaudy tiles, local artwork and colourful wallpaper, all crowned by a glass-bottomed rooftop pool. The relaxed restaurant serves up a mixture of local and international food. Once you’ve knocked back enough Georgian wine, head to bed in a light-filled room complete with a standalone bath and floor-to-ceiling shelves of books. Stamba Hotel.

New Hotel, Athens, Greece

Athens is emerging from years of economic woe, and bringing with it a vibrant, creative atmosphere that has earned it an (already clichéd) reputation as the new Berlin. Wander the city, and each area feels up and coming, lined with bars and cafes, independent boutiques, and reimagined, recently derelict buildings. Staying in the centre offers the best vantage point to see it all, so check into the New Hotel, designed by award-winning designer duo, Fernando and Humberto Campana, and enjoy a modern aesthetic to match the stirring views of the ancient Acropolis. New Hotel.

Il Sereno, Lake Como, Italy

Il Sereno is unabashedly contemporary. Sitting on top of an old boathouse, its glass-fronted façade is a stark departure from neighbouring, Renaissance-style edifices, but it somehow blends seamlessly into its surroundings. Lime-green deckchairs flank a sharp-edged infinity pool, which sits next to a jetty boasting two polished wooden boats. Mere steps away is the spa, where treatments are concluded with a plunge in the outdoor hot tub, sheltered by an ancient, crumbling arch. The interior of the hotel is deeply design-focused; masterminded by Milan-based Patricia Urquiola, it blends artisanal materials—stone, wood, natural fibres—with sleek industrial flourishes. The lobby is dominated by a vertical living wall, the work of French botanist Patrick Blanc, and an imposing staircase, enveloped in copper pipes, leads down to the restaurant below, which is helmed by three-star Michelin chef Andrea Berton. The rooms, with softly-lit bathrooms and huge beds encased in Porthault linen, all have panoramic views out onto the lake. As guests watch the sun set from their individual balconies, they can indulge in all the comforting clichés of Lake Como—the romance, the beauty—whilst enjoying the best in experimental, innovative Italian design. Il Sereno.

Sant Francesc Hotel Singular, Palma, Mallorca

Sant Francesc could easily be featured on the cover of Architectural Digest. Led by renowned architect and designer Maria José Cabré, the team took over a 19th-century Mallorcan mansion and gave it a thoroughly modern update in keeping with the building’s history. Although different, all the rooms are equally tasteful. Some are decked out in dark wood and marble, with windows overlooking the central courtyard, and others are styled in light wood, and have a private balcony or views over the garden. The one thing you can be certain of is that they are all elegant, plush and welcoming. Sant Francesc Hotel Singular

Francesc Bolunya

Kyrimai Hotel, Gerolimenas, Greece

Two miles from Kalamata airport, the interior of this sand-hued hotel (a renovated 19th-century ship chandler’s centre) has chunky walls, thick wooden beams and a diminutive museum that guides you through the history of the area. The 23 rooms are variously equipped (think balconies, traces and bathtubs), but are all furnished with antiques. The restaurant focuses on fresh, Mediterranean fare, so if it’s sunny, eat outside by the water, and when it’s cold, snuggle into the fire-lit dining room. Kyrimai Hotel.

1872 River House, Porto, Portugal

Accessed via a stained-glass walkway, this pink mansion sits by the water in Porto’s old town. Comprised of just eight bedrooms, each offsets the building’s old-school features (fireplaces and chandeliers) with modern touches from graphic black and white tiling in the bathroom to pop-up TVs. Breakfast is served all day, and, as the evening creeps in, wine is drunk up on the terrace. An intimate, non-showy base from which to explore Portugal’s enchanting second city. 1872 River House.

Joao Morgado

Little Green Bay, Hvar, Croatia

Overlooking the quiet Lonza Bay, this hotel was set up by French brother-sister duo Mathieu and Julie, and their experience in hospitality and design shines through. Decked out in natural woods, linens and stone, the renovated farmhouse has just 15 rooms furnished with wickers baskets, large beds and windows offering sweeping views. The restaurant serves up French fare and, between meals, spend your days lounging by the turquoise water. Little Green Bay.